Doubting Thomas Blog

Archive for the ‘books’ Category

I’ve been researching Buffalo history for three new bike taxi tours that I plan to offer in the 2008 season, and I’ve come across the titles of some books that I can’t find in bookstores. I will hit the library and try to find them, though.

• Forest Lawn Cemetery: Buffalo History Preserved By Albert Michaels, Richard O. Reisem, Bette Rupp
• Buffalo Architecture: A Guide By Francis R. Kowsky
• Field Guide to Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, New York By Richard O. Reisem

There are other books out there, but these seem to be relatively new and frequently referenced by the other writings I’ve found so far.

Yeah, I’m definitely going to have to spend some time in the library.

When my parents moved in the early 90’s, they let me pack up their set of classic books and take it with me, instead of moving it with them to their new house.

It’s a big set. Everything you might expect from something like a canon assembled in the 1970’s. When I was a kid I would sit in the living room and look at them. They were so impressive on the bookshelf. My dad had built the living room and the bookshelves there, and it was one of those living rooms that didn’t have a TV. We had a record player, the books, and a fireplace. I remember playing Monopoly on the green rug with the rest of the family.

Now these books are on a shelf in our guest bedroom, next to an oak desk that was my grandfather’s, which is next to a bed that was my great-grandparents. I used to keep them in alphabetical order, but I gave up on that a long time ago, and now they just go back on the shelf wherever they fit. I like to sit in there and read, and I find that when I’m working on my computer I get a lot more done in the spare room than I do in the living room.

I hope that title got your attention.

Do you remember what bookstores and record shops were like before Amazon.com started killing them off in the late 1990’s? They were just bookstores and just record shops. I remember when Borders introduced listening stations it was a radical idea at the time (the early 1990’s IIRC). That was the best we could do, for bookstores and record shops.

Now look at book stores and record shops. They’re so much more fun. And I’m not just talking the big chain stores, either. (Come to think of it, are there any big record shop chains left?) The local stores have a lot going on. When Amazon.com started offering cheaper books and records, the local stores had to give us something to make it worth coming in, and now we’ve got it all: coffee, wi-fi, in-store appearances by bands and authors, movie nights, all kinds of stuff.

I admit I don’t get out much, but great local stores include:

• Talking Leaves
• New World Records
• Old Editions Book Shop
• Rust Belt Books (no web site?) – they’re on Allen Street near Elmwood Avenue

I’m not missing any, am I?

I spent some time today working on a couple web sites for guys I know.

The first one is HouseToHouseBook.com, which I created for David, an Iraq-war veteran who wrote a book about a major battle in Fallujah.

What I changed for David’s site is adding a banner to the top of the page that encourages people to buy a copy of his book and have him personalize and sign their copy for them. I also had to fix the guest book on his site, which for some reason was being stupid on me.

The next site I worked on is for my friend Kyle, whose stylish T-shirt designs are available at Viva La Gaunch. What I did for Viva La Gaunch was add three short music clips that play (if the visitor clicks on the “Listen to Music” link, that is) while the visitor browses Kyle’s T-shirt designs. Actually that part is not quite done, because I need to link to the artists’ web sites so that people can buy the music if they like it.

A friend of ours has this in his collection–he got it from a relative who was in county government at one time. It’s an amazing book, full of history, maps, illlustrations of the people who lived in Erie County 127 years ago.

Fascinating, and I wish I had either a copy of it or had time to scan every page in it.

UPDATE: I was curious about how rare (and possibly how valuable) the book might be, so I googled the title, the publisher’s name, and the year published, and all I can find is reprints and facsimilies. So far, I haven’t found a single web site that will sell, is buying or refers to an original. Which, btw, this copy is clearly. There’s no way to fake the age and decay of a 127-year-old book. I’m thinking it must be priceless. Not that our friend would ever part with it.